Three lightning strikes recently that are unusual (Acts of God).

Bob Crowley said:

This demonstrates your complete ignorance of the Catholic Church.

We worship Christ and Christ alone - get that straight.

As my old Protestant pastor said to me once when I was still Protestant - "Protestants tell a lot of lies about Catholics and the Catholic Church" and "Protestants can be quite arrogant when it comes to the Catholic Church".

Arrogance is another word for self-righteousness, judging us away over there, having inherited every single tradition from us whether we're talking about baptism, holy orders, communion, marriage, Scripture and all the rest.

Who are you to judge?

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Check out this 1 minute and 39 second scene from the Christian movie Polycarp.


Side Note:

The scene in this movie takes place during the time when Rome worshiped many different gods in the forms of statues and they also worshiped Caesar as a god, as well.

Now, take a look around you today in Rome.
Have things really changed? Do they pray to the Lord Jesus alone? Or do you see others bowing down before statues and kissing them? Do you see others praying to other beings besides God as if these other beings actually have the power to answer prayer like God? Where in the New Testament do you see we can pray to the dead saints as if they are like God? Where do you see in the Bible whereby we can bow down to statues and kiss them without that being considered idolatry?

timothyu said:

Well for a start in today's world if mom hadn't of been there he would probably have been arrested for touching the kid let alone talking to her.

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First, what I meant by how things have not changed was in regards to Rome.
I was not referring to the unrelated point you made. One can say that transportation is different today than it was back then. But that is not the point I was making.

Second, by your criticism, one can take that as you desire to defend Catholicism.
If so, are you for the bowing down of idols and kissing them? Are you for praying to dead people like the saints and Mary?

seeking.IAM said:

I think someone does not truly understand what an idol is.

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I would say that you don't actually know what an idol is, dear sir. The Bible describes we shall not make any idols or graven image, or standing image and we shall not bow down to them.

“Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 26:1).

And this is exactly what we see Catholics do (Which is a violation of Scripture).



Doing this in the image above is wrong.
Don't do it.
Keep yourselves from idols.

seeking.IAM said:

Like I said. An idol is an inanimate object thought to be a God.

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The Bible does not say it like that. All one has to do is bow down to it in order for it to be idol. Praying with the aid of a statue is also pretty obvious that one is treating it as an idol, as well. For they think they are gaining favor by praying to some dead person by the use of their statue. They are giving power to a dead person when that dead person does not have the same power or ability God has (Which is to answer billions of prayers at once). No human who is dead is ever said to be like God in able to do something like this. Prayer is only to God. There is also no bowing down to idols or graven images because that is idolatry. But folks like to blur the lines because it is addictive like crack. Once you start... it's a rush (like all sins in life).

timothyu said:

I go a step further and ask why if the 'official' gentile church was supposed to represent the Kingdom as did the original church, The Way did, then why did it broadside the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and return the church to the kingdoms of man and build it's institution based on all institutions before, particularly the Rome Empire. The governance of God was abandoned once again, for the governance of man.

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So you are against the Roman Catholic church's beliefs? I am not sure where you stand here. Your criticism involving the guy and the girl in the video earlier could be misunderstood as your jumping in to defend against my original point on disagreeing with the beliefs of the Catholic church. If that was not your intention, please let me know.

Bob Crowley said:

For a bit of basic education, we don't worship or bow down before idols. Got a photograph of your family anywhere? Do you hold the members of your family in high esteem? The photograph simply represents the reality behind the scene.

The Christ on the cross in Catholic Church represents the reality behind the scene - Christ was crucified for our sins.

When we ask the saints to pray for us, we ask them to add their prayers to ours, in the same way you might ask your friends to pray for you. They're doing something up there, part of the huge cloud of witnesses St. Paul wrote about. They can see us, and they can hear us.

As for building on the Roman Empire, beginning with Constantine, the empire moved it's headquarters from Rome to Constantinople. Rome became a backwater, and it was ransacked about 23 times in the same period that Constantinople was only ransacked once.

Constantinople was effectively the beginning of the Orthodox Churches, with their liturgical strengths, brilliant iconography, and endurance.

As for Protestantism being the truth, as my old Protestant pastor said to me once, "When it comes to theology, Protestants couldn't agree how far to spit."

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Again, I posted Leviticus 26:1 on the terms of what idolatry is. It says not to make a graven image (statue) or idols (statue) or rear up a standing image. This again is a statue. Generally during biblical times, they would make statues of animals and or people and or combination of the two and bow down them and or kiss them. Leviticus 26:1 does not go into the details of the idolatry involved. It just describes what it is. It says do not raise up a statue (graven image) and bow down to it. Yet, that is what we see Catholics do. So they are in violation of Leviticus 26:1 on the matter of idolatry. Sorry, that's just how it is. A family picture is just a photo and generally does not take up a whole wall and is not the center of focus in the home whereby people bow down and kiss the photo and revere the ones in the photo as if they can hear prayers. This is not really a statue like an idol. Even the serpent on the pole later became an issue of idolatry in the Bible and guess what they did with it? They destroyed it. Why? Because it became an idol. So if something is becoming an idol, it should be destroyed. If something appears to be an idol in people's eyes (like statues that people bow down to), it should be destroyed.

Also, you cannot pray to dead people because they do not have the same power as God to answer prayer. So if these dead saints are answering the Catholic's prayers, then who is? Again, I see the saints that Catholics pray to as the many gods that Rome used to pray to. They are very similiar. One God is not enough for Rome.

RDKirk said:

How about this pair of lightning strikes. This guy appeared to be headed to do a mugging, got struck by lightning, got up, got struck again.

Maybe God was trying to tell this guy something.

Lightning-Strikes-Man TWICE - YouTube

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Wow. That is amazing. Hope the video is real. If it is real, I agree that God was definitely trying to stop this guy for sure. Let's hope he has seen the light of God at some point after it.

timothyu said:

Like political parties

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The only time I was even remotely interested in politics was when Trump was in office because of the odd and unsual things he said and did. I am neither Democrat and neither am I Republican. While I am grateful that God has blessed me to be in the nation I am in, I am not for any nation of this world, but I am for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. I have never even voted, either. This place is not my home.

seeking.IAM said:

What do you think about the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant? Loophole?

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It has been argued that the Bible promotes the veneration of images because Joshua 7:6 says that Joshua and the elders of Israel “bowed down before the Ark, and there were the two images of the cherubs, and nothing happened to them” (Zavala, 2000). Although at first glance this passage may seem to favor religious iconography, consider the following points often overlooked.

First of all, the nature of the Old Testament should be considered again. Under the Old Covenant, God “dwelt” in a special way in the tabernacle (over the Ark), and from there He spoke to the people of Israel (Exodus 25:22; 30:36; Leviticus 16:2). However, under the New Testament, God “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24). If God does not dwell in temples made with human hands, would He dwell in images made with human hands?

Second, it is essential to consider the context of Joshua 7:6. Although some Catholics argue that Joshua and the elders of Israel bowed down to honor and venerate the images of the cherubs that were on the Ark, the context reveals completely different facts. Verse six informs us that Joshua “tore his clothes,” and he and the elders of the people “put dust on their heads.” Tearing one’s garments and covering one’s head with dust or ashes were signs of great sorrow, shame, or penitence (cf. Genesis 37:29,34; 2 Samuel 3:31; 13:30-31; Job 1:20; Lamentations 2:10; et al.). They never were signs of worship. It is certain that Joshua and the elders of Israel did not have the faintest intention of giving honor to or worshipping the Ark of the Covenant or the cherubs on it.

You can read the full article here:
The Bible and Catholic Images [Part II]

seeking.IAM said:

What do you think about the two cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant? Loophole?

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Also, the angels were not facing the viewer. They were facing an empty mercy seat. Who was supposed to be on the empty mercy seat? The invisible God we worship.